Tuesday, December 19, 2017

More on the "Blueing" of Republican Suburbs

The NYTimes has a big article out this morning highlighting what we've been talking about since November 8, when the suburbs of Virginia and New Jersey turned out many veteran Republican lawmakers, and voters in special and in municipal elections across the nation also showed clear signs of rejection of Trump's MAGA.

Here are some of the Democratic candidates arising to challenge once safe Republican incumbents:

Lizzie Pannill Fletcher, challenging incumbent Republican John Culberson in the Texas 7th District

Texas-7 was carefully gerrymandered out of the suburbs of Houston to be Republican-friendly. Culberson won reelection there in 2016 with 56% of the vote. Fletcher is a lawyer who out-raised the incumbent during the last fundraising period, but she's also one of at least seven Democrats who'll be competing in the Democratic primary to challenge Culberson.

Ben McAdams, challenging Mia Love in the Utah 4th District

Utah-4 takes in part of Salt Lake City (SLC) and south through the affluent suburbs of Sandy and Provo. McAdams is mayor of SLC, a liberal oasis in a sea of red, but Trump is noticeably unpopular among Mormons, especially well-educated Mormons. Love is the first black female Republican elected to Congress and the first black American elected to Congress from Utah, first elected by the thinnest of margins in 2014 and reelected in 2016 with 53% of the vote. McAdams will have a Democratic primary with at least three others.

Jim Gray, challenging Andy Barr in the Kentucky 6th District

Kentucky-6 takes in all of Lexington (including its suburbs, not to mention the University of Kentucky) and the state capitol of Frankfort. Jim Gray is the popular mayor of Lexington, but he got into the Democratic primary after Amy McGrath, a former Marine pilot who reportedly has raised more than $1 million. The incumbent Republican Barr has won both his elections to Congress with at least 60% of the vote.

Scott Wallace, challenging Brian Fitzpatrick in the Pennsylvania 8th District

Pennsylvania-8 is as white-collar Republican as you can get, taking in all of Bucks County. Democrat Wallace, a lawyer and philanthropist whose grandfather was one of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s vice presidents, is as yet unannounced, but he's known to be considering the race. There's already an announced Democrat, Rachel Riddick, so there'll likely be a primary. Incumbent Republican Fitzpatrick, who was first elected in the Tea Party wave of 2010, will also have a primary.

P. G. Sittenfeld, challenging Steve Chabot in the Ohio 1st District

The Ohio-1 was gerrymandered to take in Warren County and the suburbs north of Cincinnati. It's been considered a safe Republican seat. Sittenfeld is a Cincinnati city councilman and is being heavily recruited by the US House Democratic recruitment machine. Two other Democrats are already in the race. Republican Chabot was first

The Washington-5 is in far eastern Washington state and takes in all of Spokane, the state's 2nd largest city. McMorris Rodgers is part of the Republican House leadership and is considered unassailable, but Democrat Brown is a former Washington state senate leader and more recently the chancellor of Washington State University's Spokane campus.

Dan McCready, challenging Robert Pittenger in the North Carolina 9th District

The NC-9 is Charlotte-centric and Surburbia Prime. Pittenger looks weak and may lose his primary to pulpit-pounder Mark Harris, who will then face Democrat and ex-Marine McCready in the general election. In North Carolina, this will be ground zero for any Democratic wave.

Kelly Mazeski, challenging Peter Roskam in the Illinois 6th District

The Illinois-6 has been considered safely Republican, as it wraps around the western suburbs of Chicago, but it rejected Trump for Clinton by 7 points in 2016. Mazeski is one of at least seven Democrats who'll go head-to-head in a Democratic primary for the privilege of taking on Roskam, who took over the 6th District from Henry Hyde in 2006.

1 comment:

Oh Suzannah
said...

The Idiot-in-Chief in the White House is still claiming that 2018 is going to be a wonderful year for Republicans because of HIM! And he says he's ready to go campaign for Republicans in every district in the nation. Can't wait to see those invitations from Republican incumbents come rolling in. Lol

about

J.W. Williamson was the founding editor in 1972 of the Appalachian Journal: A Regional Studies Review, which he edited until July of 2000. He has taught college classes in Appalachian history, cultural politics, and literature, and he has lectured widely on the pop-culture history of "Appalachia" in the American consciousness. His books include Interviewing Appalachia, Southern Mountaineers in Silent Films, and Hillbillyland: What the Mountains Did to the Movies and What the Movies Did to the Mountains. He has won the Thomas Wolfe Award given by the Western North Carolina Historical Society, the Laurel Leaves Award given by the Appalachian Consortium, a special Weatherford Award given by Berea College, and the Cratis Williams-James Brown Award given by the Appalachian Studies Association.

The views expressed on WataugaWatch are solely those of J.W. Williamson or individual contributors and are not necessarily shared nor endorsed by the Watauga County Democratic Party nor by any other adults of sound mind in this or any other universe.